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Sunday, 24 May 2015

I'm feeling a little classier and more sophisticated today, not a dinosaur, hallucinatory or tie dye print in sight, like I've just wandered off of the set of a BBC Stephen Poliakoff drama, or at a push, Downton Abbey. Have I finally started dressing for my age, the ripe old age of 22? This isn't to say that I've veered away from loud prints entirely, but this geometric print dress with pastel and beige tones is perhaps a more understated version of my usual clashing patterns.

Rachel Antonoff, the creator of this dress, is one of my favourite designers. I'm by no means an expert on labels, but Antonoff stands out to me due to the intricate, modern and eccentric details on her clothes. I'm a big fan of designers that have distinctive but consistent concepts, and Antonoff's look always seems to switch between all American public schoolgirl and a 1970's prom attendee (but definitely not the prom queen, these clothes are for the sort of girl who sat at the back of class chewing her pen rather too aggressively and scowling at everyone else). Her latest ready-to-wear collection includes intricately patterned pieces that first appear to be covered in floral print, but when looked at up close they are actually illustrations of reproductive organs, a concept I have an endless amount of time for.

You can imagine my excitement when I found out that Rachel was designing a collection for Scandinavian brand & Other Stories, meaning that I could finally have some Antonoff in my wardrobe. This dress was the stand out piece for me, but this particular pattern is also available in a halter neck floaty dress and a skirt. It's made of a silky material and it's good to swish around the place in, as well as being the sort of outfit you could wear for going to see your nan or for a job interview. The only downside is that the buttons go right down to the bottom, which I suppose means that it can be worn as a tunic, but for me it just means that the buttons pop open every time I kneel down to pick something up (and if you're as clumsy as I am, you need space to stretch those legs for dramatically tripping over things and getting yourself out of sticky situations).

Sunday, 10 May 2015

It really makes me sad that I haven't been able to put my all into Rags recently, but full time work commitments have taken over and I've not been able to document any of my dazzling outfit choices, not that there have been many, as I slip on a pair of jeggings and a t-shirt and stumble bleary eyed into work. Yesterday I got back from a trip to Berlin, four days that whizzed past in a haze of museums, galleries, taxi rides, burgers, the repeated uttering of both 'Danke' and 'Entschuldingung,' Ampelmanns and Ritter Sport chocolate (the last two are very intrinsic to Berlin's culture it seems, look it up!) It also gave me the opportunity to work on my colourful outfit game, as demonstrated here outside the Hamburger Bahnhof Modern Art Museum: Jacket - Unif via DepopTop - DaisystreetSkirt - Illustrated PeopleShoes - ClarksBag - WaterstonesSunglasses - Primark

Berlin isn't exactly a colourful city, so in a way my outfit choices starkly contrasted with the predominantly grey buildings. This look is quite 'Sophia Loren drinking cocktails in Saint Tropez but if she also really liked dinosaurs and tie dye' which she may well have done. I bought out my Dinosaur print skirt again and paired it up with my Unif jacket, which is becoming my staple uniform and I would happily sew it into my skin if I could. I bought this white wrap top from Daisy Street, Taylor Swift wears a very similar one in the video for Style, and being the converted Taylor Swift fan that I am, I sought my own version out. I did not think that would be a sentence that I would ever write, but it is the truth, god damn it.

Thanks to the super talented Claire Joines for taking these, despite not knowing me all that well and probably wondering why this person kept asking her to take photos of her midriff and chest area for *detail* shots. Check out her illustration and graphic design work here.
Thanks for reading! Belphoebe x Find me elsewhere!